Team in Nelspruit

Got a phone call from Nelspruit, South Africa! My Bride, Ashley, at a pace of 112 m.p.h., began telling me all she could in a short period of time! End result? The Team is doing really well. It was difficult for them to leave Thulwane this morning. They feel like they are leaving a huge part of their hearts there. And they are. They fostered and strengthened relationships that have transformed lives in Swaziland, as well as in the U.S. Everyone's heart is broken... and that is not a bad thing. In that brokenness is where we find Jesus.

They are now resting at the hotel and will get up in the morning and visit the market and maybe witness some of God's creation in and around Nelspruit. Please continue to pray for them and for the people of Swaziland. Blessings -

Word up!

Got a brief word from the team today! Of course, everything is going well! Since our partnership with AIM and Children's HopeChest began at Thulwane in February, 2007, we have seen an incredible transformation with the people of that community. God has worked through Kriek and Jumbo Gerber, the "D" Team, the Go-Go's and even the older children. We are so priveleged to be a representative of our Savior! He has wrecked our hearts for the good and that is what calls us to action. Thank you, Jesus!

Please allow me to share a bit of scripture that reminds me of the mission of not only our team from the States, but our team in Swaziland:

Matthew 5: 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness,how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Our prayer is that anything we do or say reflect the immense love of God.

Boarding Call at 8:35 pm, cst.

After a delay of little over an hour, our Team is boarding! I spoke to several of them and they are all in high spirits and very excited to be on their way! Crystal and Ashley will email me when they can and I will update the blog just as soon as I receive the information. Speaking from experience, please take the time to reply to these posts... they will all huddle around a laptop to read the messages!!!

Thank all of you for your prayers, support, supplies, encouragement and wisdom you all have shared in recent months with our team! We are all so blessed because of you! We hope to have an update tomorrow night.

God is so very good! Please feel free to join us in giving thanks and praise to our Lord!

The House that Love Built - Part 2

Our first introduction to the children of Thulwane was through this video shared by Tom Davis with Children’s HopeChest. Please take two minutes to watch this video. Very moving.

This little girl hadn’t always been in a wheelchair. Before her traumatic experience, she walked around and played like most children her age. During her recovery period, her Gogo would place her in a wheelbarrow to get her to the carepoint so she could eat. Kriek and Jumbo Gerber, Missionaries in Swaziland, purchased the wheelchair for Love and this is where her life began to change… for the better.

We had absolutely no idea we would actually get to meet the little girl in the wheelchair. But we did. She is such an Angel!

The next blog will detail our first encounter with Love and what we learned from this little girl and the other children at Thulwane.

We All Have a Platform

This is a blog I first posted on July 24, 2008. I am not at all a Florida fan (Alabama), but I cannot help but support someone who stands for what is good. Tim Tebow is a good man. Now he is the MVP of the BCS National Championship game.

In this part of the country, late-summer means one thing… it’s time for football! Seriously, football is a big deal for many, many people – including me. I’ve played it, watched it, dreamed about it, obsessed over it and am now even coaching the game. I would have to classify myself as a person who loves football.This past week, the SEC held media day for their member schools at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, which is about 8 miles from where we live. My family is huge Alabama fans and I typically follow this media spectacle to see what the outlook is for other SEC schools. One team that keeps my interest is the Florida Gators. I suppose I keep an eye on them because they always are in the hunt for a national title, especially now.

Florida has a very special player that is the center of their team. He is the heart of Florida football. At the end of the 2007 season, this guy was showered with awards, recognition and accolades. Look at this list of awards and accomplishments: The Heisman Trophy; Maxwell Award; Davey O’Brien Award; AP Player of the Year; Consensus All-American. One would think this post would be all about football. But it’s not. It is about a young man named Tim Tebow - who some would call the best all-around quarterback in the history of college football.The following are some quotes from Tebow while he was in Hoover this past week:“If I can change a kid’s life for the better, that’s much more important to me than going out there and beating Georgia or Florida State or whatever team it is.”

Tim Tebow has been mission- minded his entire life. It is second nature to him. His parents were missionaries. Tim was actually born in the Philippines. Actually, Tim has been on three different mission campaigns since winning the Heisman Trophy.
“We had three breaks. For those three breaks I went to the Philippines, Croatia and Thailand on three mission trips,” Tebow said. “All three of those places I got to do a lot of very neat things, preaching in prisons, in schools, in hospitals, in marketplaces.”

Why does Tebow spend time sharing his faith and working with the poor? After all, Tebow is a superstar. His fans shower him with enough praise to last most of us a lifetime. “The reason I do it is because it’s more important than football to me,” Tebow said. “Doing those things, taking my platform as a football player and using it for good, using it to be an influence and change people’s lives, that’s more important than football to me.”

“I can take what I do in playing football as a game and change people’s lives with it. That’s why football is such a great game. That’s kind of why I do the things, preaching in prisons, doing those different things, trying to take advantage of that platform that God has blessed me with.”
God has blessed Tim Tebow with the physical skills and mental toughness that will make him a football legend. But this 20 year old gets it. He is trying to take advantage of the platform God has blessed him with.

“I want to do everything in my power that football gives me to influence as many people as I can for the good because that’s gonna mean so much more when it’s all said and done than just playing football and winning championships,” Tebow said. We all can learn a lesson from this guy. We have all been blessed with a different platform. Each of us can take full advantage of what God has given us to stand tall for the Kingdom of God. That will mean so much more when it’s all said and done.

All Things New

We shared some pictures of ‘Love’ with you in our last blog – now I want to tell you why those pictures are so significant. When we first met Love in June, 2008, she was in pretty poor condition. She was malnourished, she had several burns on her little body, she had recently experienced some type of head trauma, her right eye was nearly closed and infected. She was a mess, at least in our eyes.

When we made her circumstances known to our friends, Kriek and Jumbo Gerber, they, along with one of their staff members, Dennis Brock, committed to ending the obvious neglect she had been enduring. I cannot tell you how fulfilling it was to see pictures of Love from this past Sunday. She looks like a different little girl. As my sister reminded me today, “God makes all things new.” That, He does!

This is an excerpt from an email Kriek sent me this week:

“So she was at the party on Saturday, walking around, just looking at everything. BUT she came to ALL of us (white people) and she wanted us to pick her up. She has never ever done this with us before! Jumbo and Julie picked her up once each, but she is so heavy that they had to put her down after a few minutes. They would put her down and then she would stand in front of them with her little arms raised, asking for more. It was so cute. Sorry, but I didn’t even try to pick her up!!! I just played with her every time she came to me! She also played with Jumbo’s car keys for a while; looking really interested in it. She even came to one of us with her sweater wanting us to help her put it on. It was amazing! But through all of this she never said a word or made a sound.

Sorry you were not there to be the one picking her up! I know you would have loved every moment of it.”

I was there, Kriek. My heart was there. God Bless.

Introduction to Love

I originally posted this in mid-June of this year. A friend of mie asked me post it again....

I have experienced Jesus in the flesh. No, this isn't the first time. And I pray it won't be the last. We were on a mission campaign in Swaziland, Africa. The morning had started off with the awesome responsibility of being called to compassionate action. We were at Thulwane carepoint. Thulwane is the place we had viewed video's of Tom Davis' blog. This is the place we have read about on the blog of Kriek and Jumbo . I already had this particular morning planned out in my mind. I would spend some time with the children as they ate breakfast. Then I would help other team members administer some meds at our 'clinic,' while at the same time I would be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of my oldest daughter, Alexis, as she continued the path of being a Godly young woman. But something happened that will forever change the way I view missions. The experience I was soon to live would literally shape the way I viewed life and love.

In order to fully feel the scope of this experience, please take a moment to watch this video: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2007/03/the_girl_in_the.html


Crystal Baltimore came to me and said, "Hey, remember the girl in the wheelchair in Tom's blog? Well, she is over here and we are about to feed her." Wow! We met Pastor Walter just the day before - now, I get to actually see the little girl on the wheelchair. My family and I had watched that video at least 50 times. There she was. Little Nedia sat there on a mat in all her Royalty. She was dressed like the Queen of Thulwane. A red velvet dress adorned her bruised and battered body. She quietly ate her generous helping of food from her royal plastic bowl and with her spotless right hand. There was the Queen in all her splendor. I was speechless, as was the rest of our team. At that moment, a rush of emotions came over me. I was angry that she could have been violated in such sick, evil ways. Then confusion creeped in. How could someone physically abuse such a precious angel? It was obvious from early on that Nedia not only had been assaulted both physically and mentally - but she had also been neglected since Tom had posted the video of her from late in '07.

Then it happened. The defining moment of where the rubber meets the road. This was it - where the 'Red Letters' of the bible come to life. There was Jesus dressed in the distressing disguise of the Queen of Thulwane. My heart was wrecked. My sense of justice was awakened. As team members began to prepare for the clinic, I was able to spend some time with Nedia. Just me, her and the Lord. At first, I wasn't sure of what to say. Or what to do, for that matter. I had never met a queen before. I had heard of them and seen them on TV. But this was for real. So there we were. Just the three of us. What was the first thing out of my mouth to her? "Love." My big moment in the history of important moments - and all I could say was, "Love." How did she respond? "Love!"

I have experienced love in so many ways in my life. Love for my parents and sisters. Love for Ashley and our four children. Love for my friends. Love for my work and those I serve. Love for God and for my church. Love for missions. But this was the manisfestation of what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25 when he talked about the poor. This was exactly what he meant. To be continued...